Satisfying discriminating tastes

Top chefs show off their culinary prowess at the Naples Winter Wine Festival and talk taste buds with their peers

The two dozen guests of Neapolitans Grace and Ken Evenstad will be treated to Mississippi farm-raised quail stuffed with Foie Gras Dirty Rice served with southern-cooked greens and natural reduction sauce prepared by the hands of celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse.

What's not known is if they'll also be treated to some BAMs! from the kitchen.

Top chefs from around the nation are invited to cook for attendees of tonight's private dinner parties hosted by the trustees of the Naples Winter Wine Festival. The swank and intimate dinners that feature culinary all-stars and big-name wine makers are the festival's big draw.

Now in its sixth year, the festival is among the most prestigious private culinary events in the country.

"When you look at the caliber of chefs and the people and the vintners involved, I don't think it can get much better than this," said Michelle Bernstein, of Michy's in Miami and a former host of Food Network's "Melting Pot."

Bernstein will cook for guests at the dinner hosted by Valerie Boyd and Jeff Gargiulo at the sprawling beachfront estate of Michael DeGroote. She wishes that she could make the rounds tonight to watch some of her high-profile peers — Shea Gallante, Charlie Palmer, Emeril, for example — in action.

On Thursday evening, the chefs got to talk taste buds among themselves at a private VIP party for the chefs, vintners and festival trustees.

Shawn McClain, of Spring restaurant in Chicago, said he's flattered to be a part of the festival. Before he received an invitation to cook at a vintner dinner, he had heard the festival was a fun and exciting event that drew top talent from restaurants around the country.

"It's a who's who of national chefs," he said.

Chef Frank McClelland, of L'Espalier in Boston, was drawn to the festival's reputation of putting on an extravagant event that was serious about raising money for kids.

"I knew of how committed people are to this food and wine festival," McClelland said.

How do festival organizers get some of the country's hottest chefs to come? A committee of trustees begins preparing a chef invitation list more than a year in advance of the festival. Ten of the 17 chefs needed for next year's festival already have accepted.

"Because of our incredible success, they're excited about coming," said Cynthia Sherman, a festival trustee who heads the chef's committee.

Sherman, a former law partner at Clifford Chance in New York and wife of investment adviser Bruce Sherman, the CEO of Naples-based Private Capital Management, is a self-described foodie.

She combs food and wine magazines and canvasses the other festival trustees on who's hot on the restaurant scene.

"Obviously, it's important to look for chefs with a national reputation," Sherman said. "You look for name recognition — celebrated chefs and up-and-coming chefs."

Once the target list is established, it's still quite a chore to get the chefs lined up: not because they're hesitant to come, but because they're so busy, Sherman said.

To come to the festival, chefs have to take time off from their restaurants. And they typically bring their right-hand help — their sous chefs. It's not unheard of for an attending chef from a small, but exclusive restaurant to close for the weekend to come to Naples.

Neal Fraser, creator of L.A.'s Grace restaurant who also has been an "Iron Chef America" contender, thinks he's the least-known chef invited to this year's festival.

"The chefs who get to go are the best in the country," he said.

Bernstein, who last season toppled Bobby Flay on the Food Network's "Iron Chef America" with her Latin fusion onion dishes, said cooking at the Naples Winter Wine Festival produces almost as much stomach-churning stress as cooking on national TV.

Cooking for a crowd is always a challenge, she said.

"You put together the wine people and the foodies that are involved and it's just so much harder because there's already a frame of mind and expectations," Bernstein said.

Chef Terrance Brennan, of Picholine in New York, said much planning goes into the menus for festival dinners. Matching the food to the flavors and character of the wine — $1,000 bottles from the Bryant Family Vineyard will be served with his cuisine at the dinner hosted by Carol and Tom Lund — is critical, Brennan said.

Then comes the logistical planning – Brennan is flying in tuna from Maine for the first course.

"From that point you have to think, ‘OK you're in a kitchen you've never worked in, it's in a home that's not a professional kitchen.' You think of feasibility factors," Brennan said.

After all the preparation and prime-time pressure the night of the dinner, the celebrity chefs don't get to sit down and eat with the guests.

"Well, I'll nibble a little bit in the kitchen, but I don't get to sit down. I'm the hired help," Brennan said.